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S. P. SMITH.

Straw Cutter.

Patented Aug. 9, 1859.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SOLOMON P. SMITH, OF CRESCENT, NEW YORK.

STRAW-CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,054, dated August 9, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SOLOMON P. SMITH, of the village of Crescent, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Cutting Apparatus of Machines for Cutting Hay, Straw, Cornstalks, and like Materials; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had tov the annexed drawings, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of one of my improved straw cutters, a part of the framework of the machine being broken away; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and F ig. 3 an isometrical projection of a part of the front end, of the same machine.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the figures; and the arrows and red dotted lines indicate the movements of the parts.

The frame, A, and straw-box, B, are as in many of the well known straw-cutters; and the knife, C, cuts through the straw against a block, D, somewhat as, but still is mounted and operated in an essentially different manner from that in which the knives of other machines are made to cut through the straw against a block.

The cutter-block, D, may be of soft metal, raw hide, hard wood placed endwise, or any other suitable material, and is fixed across the front end of the straw box so as to leave a throat between the front end of the bottom, e, of the straw box and the cutterblock, through which throat the straw is to be fed with a step by step motion from the straw box, by hand or by machinery, as in many machines in use. But instead of arranging and operating the knife, C, in any of the modes heretofore adopted, I mount the knife upon one end of a knee-jointed lever, or levers, F, the other end, g, of which is hung in such a position that by straightening the jointed lever the knife is carried by the said lever through the straw and against the face, z., of the cutter-block, and so that by bending back the jointed lever the knife is thereby withdrawn from the cutter block and from in front of the throat of the straw box, as seen in Fig. 3 and by the red dotted lines in Fig. l; and I so hang the knife to the jointed lever, F, as at z', and fasten the knife to the vibrating arms J, J or fit the knife to slide on ways, 7c, or otherwise hold the knife in such a position on the jointed lever, that the knife cuts across and through the straw and against the fixed block, D, in a direction perpendicular or nearly so to the straw and to the face of the cutter block, and so that the knife retreats from the cutter-block in the same plane that it met it; and I apply the driving power to the jointed lever, F, to straighten and bend the latter, and thereby operate the knife, at or near the knee-joint, Z. By thus arranging the crank-shaft and pitman with the knee-jointed lever, knife, and straw-box and cutter block, so that the crank-shaft makes just one complete revolution while the knife makes one out through the straw or other substance and against the block D and returns; the knee-jointed lever, F, not only exerts a progressively increasing pressure upon the knife as the resistance offered by the straw increases, but the crank and pitman, M, N, at the same time, also exert a progressively increasing pressure upon the knee-jointed lever, so as to thereby greatly increase the power of the knife to cut through hard and compressed masses of straw or stalks without retarding the movement of the crank-shaft, which latter should meet with as nearly a uniform resistance as possible in order that the machine may be worked with ease.

IVhat I claim as my improvement and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The arrangement of a crank-shaft, M, pitman, N, knee-jointed lever, F, and knife, C, with a straw-box, B, and cutter-block, D, for conjoint use, as herein specified. and shown by the annexed drawings.

SOLOMON P. SMITH.

itnesses E. H. UNIAC, A. F. PARK. 

